NeoIPC: Establishing innovative optimal approaches for infection prevention of resistant bacteria in NICU’s by integrating research, implementation science and surveillance in a sustainable global platform.
Updated 6 March 2024
Duration
1 April 2021 – 31 May 2026
Promotors and groups involved (VAXINFECTIO only)
Laboratory of Medical Microbiology – VAXINFECTIO (Prof. Surbhi Malhotra-Kumar)
Health Economics & Modelling Infectious Diseases – VAXINFECTIO (Prof. Niel Hens)
A short project description
NeoIPC aims to study the prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacterial colonization in neonatal intensive care units in Europe and to identify best practices for infection prevention. By conducting two clinical trials, one observational (NeoIPC Feasibility) and one interventional (NeoDeco), the project will assess the safety and effectiveness of one or more specific, low-cost, and simple interventions to prevent infections with hospital-associated bacteria in new-borns.
Within NeoIPC, the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology leads work package 4 and constitutes the central laboratory for this project. Health Economics & Modelling Infectious Diseases is a partner in work package 4. This work aims to understand the dynamics of acquisition and transmission of antibiotic resistant bacteria across neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across Europe and how the NICU environment plays a role in antibiotic resistant bacterial colonization in the early stages of life. Additionally, emergence of biocide resistance as a response to standardized antiseptic practices will be monitored, and collected data will be used to build stochastic modelling frameworks of transmission. Ultimately, point-of-care microbiome screening technologies will be adopted for use at the bedside to screen for antibiotic resistance in the NICU environment.
The NeoIPC project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 965328.
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